


New Danganronpa V3: Life on the Line

by PopitLockitWriteit



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Attempted Murder, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Death, Gen, Major Character(s), Murder, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 23:35:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21837523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PopitLockitWriteit/pseuds/PopitLockitWriteit
Summary: A total rewrite of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.There's a tumblr blog for this story! You can find it here: https://danganv3realliferewrite.tumblr.com/
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	1. NOTES

As said in the summary, this is a total rewrite of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.

Almost nothing in here is going to be the same as canon.

Character roles have been switched, every character has a brand new talent, and their personalities have been messed with.

I'm willing to take constructive criticism for this story! Just don't be mean about it!

If you have suggestions for characters; drop em in the comments! Maybe you've got some ideas or theories yourself? Be careful; they just might happen! 

The only definite things I myself have chosen are the talents and the roles of the characters.

The death order is entirely random (except for chapter 5) and it is not under my control. It is randomized after every chapter.

If you have thoughts or ideas, you're free to send me an ask on the official TUMBLR BLOG for this story. The blog is linked in the description.

Please enjoy!~


	2. Chapter 2

Nothing.

No light, no sound.

No form. No voice.

No knowledge of who I am.

...Who I am?

Who am I?

I extend a hand.

A hand that belongs to no one.

To take hold of my existence--

...

This is me.

My name... is Kokichi Ouma.

I just remembered who I am.

Nice to meet... me.

I'm the protagonist of this crazy story.


	3. Chapter 3

  
...

H-Huh...?

...

I stumbled out of the locker in a daze. But as soon as I did...

...I fell on the floor.

"Ahh!?"

I couldn't even brace for impact as blinding pain suddenly rushed through my head.

"Oww... thaaat's gonna leave a mark." Curse me for having wobbly legs. But thanks to that pain, I went from dazed to annoyed real quick. I rubbed my forehead, trying to shove out the pain. 

My annoyance soon turned to confusion, as my eyes scanned the room. This... this is a classroom. Some of the desks are arranged in rows, and the chairs are pulled out, positioned as though someone had been sitting there before, tilted back on one leg.

Was this _my_ classroom? It sure as hell didn't look familiar to me... Maybe that's why I was so dazed before; maybe I have amnesia or something... but even if I did, I'm sure I wouldn't have ended up in a locker because of it.

"Alright, think Kichi... How did this start? Hmm..."

Past my headache, I rubbed my temples, letting my eyes close. I felt myself relax for just a moment, and the headache seemed to dull down, but it didn't help me remember anything. I don't even remember what I was doing before I ended up here...

I at least tried to relax with how calm things were now.

*bam!*

"W-wahh!" Neeevermind.

Suddenly, the locker next to mine started swaying and shaking, making all kinds of noise that echoed in the small room.

As I fearfully turned around, the locker door slowly opened and...

...a boy came stumbling out.

"Hnng..."

He didn't... look like anyone I had met before.

He had strange, techy clothes, a messy, spiked up hairstyle that went in all directions...

He looked bewildered. And when he slowly lifted his head...

He scrambled back, trying to get to his feet.

"Ahh!"

"Ah-! C-calm down, jeez! I-it's fine, I won't do anythin!" I backed up, holding my hands up, shaking them lightly, waiting for him to calm down. "See? I don't got anythin on me. You can chill."

"Ah.. I'm sorry..." the boy seemed to relax a little, taking what I was saying. He wrapped his arms over his chest with a sigh, finding it much easier now to get up. 

"It's fine.. I suppose." I sighed, trying to compose myself again. "I'm just as confused and afraid as you are. Lets just... stay calm, and--"

Before I could continue, a quintet of voices rang out. "Rise and shine ursine!"

5 things popped out of the floor, all having the appearance of a teddy bear, each split into different colors on the left sides of their body; red, green, blue, pink, and gold.

"Rise and shine ursine!" The red one happily spoke out, raising two shurikens near its head.

"...A teddy bear?" The other boy spoke out, putting his hand under his chin.

"Seems more like some kind of... mutant monster if it can talk..." They sure do look like little monsters, with all those fangs... and that weird eye...

"Monster?! Where?!" the blue one suddenly yelled.

"I don't think he was talking to you," the pink one huffed, patting her paws together.

"That's so mean..." The red one looked dejected. "You humans are the real monsters for calling us monsters!"

"Although, if we are monsters, at least we're pretty monsters," The pink one snickered.

"I agree. I'm glad I was born with these looks. I definitely won the genetic lottery."

"Err..." They sure are talkative for monsters...

"Well, it... doesn't seem like they're 'monsters,' per say..." The boy's foot gently tapped the ground; I could only hear it faintly, but I noticed it. "They might be like those stuffed toy animals you see in the toddlers area of a store."

"We're not Monokubs! We're the stuffed animals!" The blue one called out.

"Psst, Monokid," the gold one spoke to the blue one. "You're saying your lines backwards."

The blue one, Monokid, tried again. "No stuffed animals, us! The Monokubs, them!"

"Oh jeez, it's even worse now," The gold one facepalmed.

"The Mono-what now?"

"Oh! You've heard of us?!" The pink one looked at us excitedly.

"If I had I wouldn't have called you things 'monsters' when I first saw you, unless I thought you were furbies. Which, same premise, but you get the point; I don't think I have."

As soon as I said that, these Monokubs things started looking at eachother and...

"Yayyyy it worked!" The red one hopped from foot to foot excitedly.

"Phew! Had me worried there for a second!" Monokid scratched the back of its ear.

The green one was the only one silent.

"What do you mean 'worried?' Why would you be worried about me knowing what you are?"

"Alright, now lets tackle each issue one at a time!"

"You're so damn reliable, Monotaro!" Monokid crossed its arms with a wide, fang-filled smile.

"He's like a sixth grader helping out a fifth grader!" The pink one's head lolled to one side.

"Which means we should keep our expectations reasonable," The gold one adjusted its glasses.

I couldn't help snickering. "Clever."

"Well?" Monotaro piped up. "What's your question?"

"I have loads of questions, which do you want me to ask first?" I rubbed my head, overwhelmed just thinking about it. "But to pick just one... Where are we? This... looks like a school... of some sort." I kicked at the grass below us for emphasis. 

"Okay, so this place is called the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles!" Monotaro crossed its arms.

"Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles..? That's a pretty long name for a school..."

"Ultimate... academy..." The other boy gave a worried look to the Monokubs. "I've... never heard of a school like that..?"

"Of course you haven't," The pink one waved her paw. "This school was made for you sixteen cretins."

"Sixteen?" That's... a good amount of people, but... "That's barely enough for a full classroom, let alone a school..."

"It's enough for a special, government run school." The gold one pushed its glasses up again. "The numbers are irrelevant at the current moment. Now, where was I... Ah, yes. There are sixteen Ultimates at this school, youse bastards are included in that."

"Ultimates?!" And sixteen of them?! _Including_ us?

"You know what Ultimates are, right?" Did I? The gold one kept talking. "The government scouts em through this program called the Ultimate Initiative."

"'Ultimate' basically means your particularly prodigious in a particular talent," The pink one added.

"Basically, the Ultimate Initiative exists to cultivate talent throughout the country..." Monokid spoke up. "Promising students are eligible to receive all kinds of special handouts."

"Like free school tuition..." Monotaro swayed as it talked. "Voting privileges, eligibility to run for elected office... They event get grant money too, right?"

"Students chosen by the Ultimate Initiative are known as Ultimates," Now that the others were silent, the gold one could speak again.

"Hell yeah!" Nevermind... Monokid yells out again. "Students would do anything for the honor of bein' a chosen Ultimate!"

"I don't think we needed the explanation... you said we're ultimates too, so that was kinda the hint to top it off..."

"That means you gotta remember this time. So don't forget anymore," The gold one waved its paw at me. 

"Yeah! Forgetting about your Ultimate talent is such a waste!" Monotaro laughed.

"Oh aren't you helpful..." My headache's starting to get worse...

"Shut up!" Monokid yelled out again. "Quit your yappin' and get started already!"

"Get started with what?" The other boy chimed in at my defense.

"Why, exploring this academy of course!" Monotaro smiled at us.

"Also..." The gold one looked at me. "You should introduce yourselves to the other Ultimates."

It stepped closer. "...Cuz you guys are all gonna do an activity together later."

"Awesome!" Monokid cackled. "I've got a rager right now!" A _what?_ "Well then..."

"So long, bear well!" The Monokubs waved at us before they disappeared.

"A-ah- wait! D-damnit... I had more questions..!"

The other boy was silent for a minute. "...This... isn't a dream, right?"

"No, but I wish it was..." I felt sick...

But I couldn't focus on that. Not now at least. I had to focus on getting us out of here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 12/18/19: Did a bit of editing to this chapter! Changed some of Kokichi and Kiibo's dialogue, and some general actions


	4. Chapter 4

Those Monokubs things said there were sixteen Ultimates here at the school... They also said that the both of us are ultimates... So that just means...

I walked up to the boy, temporarily forgetting about the pains in my forehead right now. "Hey... those Monokubs things... they said there were sixteen people here... sixteen Ultimates... They said we both were included in that group... so..."

"Yeah..." The boy let out a weak laugh. "I suppose I should introduce myself then... and I remember my talent now, thanks to the... refresher." He had a nervous look in his eyes, which was soon hidden again as he bowed to me. "My name is **Kiibo Idabashi**. I'm known as the **Ultimate** **Hacker**." He stood up straight again. "It's nice meeting you. Uh, properly, now..."

"Ultimate Hacker?" That's a talent you don't hear every day... and rightfully so, I guess. "Isn't that like... yknow, illegal?"

"People can get illegal talents..." He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, and looking at the wall. "If they couldn't, we wouldn't have people that could be detectives and police officers. It's the same premise."

"Well, yeah, but it's not even that bad... But usually people don't want stuff like that to be out there... I mean, it's not easy if even one of the biggest schools in Japan knows who you are, is it?"

"It's not. Once the Ultimate Initiative scouted me, I... was left out of a lot of new communities amongst Hackers. Most likely since now they knew I was better than them, but... still," He played with his hands nervously. "It hurts a bit getting tossed over their shoulders like that. And if anything, it makes me a target to be outmatched, now that I'm basically running as an administer program."

"Yeesh... sounds like it really sucks for you," I reached up, and patted his shoulder, trying to be comforting, but it was awkward for me. I was more the type of person who needed help than needed to help others. 

"I-it's alright, don't worry about it," He waved his hand with a soft, yet sad smile, and gently pushed mine off him. "But... umm... you should introduce yourself too, shouldn't you?"

"Eh, it's only fair," I laughed, putting my hand up on my head. "I'm **Kokichi Ouma**. I... don't really remember my **talent** ,if I do actually have one... s-so, yeah..."

"Ah..." Kiibo seemed a little worried. "You don't remember your talent..?"

"Nope! No clue about what it could be... I mean, I might have sooome idea but it's been pushed so far back in my brain I can't find it at the moment, though my headache might also be screwing with me a little..."

"That's going to be an issue... Those things might do something to you because you don't remember your talent..."

"Don't make me think like that, Kiibo..! I'm already shakin over here because I don't even know where the hell I am, do you wanna make it _worse_?"

"S-sorry sorry..." Kiibo shrunk down into his collar, cheeks turning red. "I-I should know better... I'm so used to being rude online, I should... control my tongue in the real world."

"Yeah, that'd be for the best. If you want some help, just be the opposite of you. Hell, maybe it'll even be better!"

"I wouldn't go that far..."

"Sorry, hehe..."

At least introductions were out of the way now... now I had searching to do. There wasn't a lot in this room for me to look at..

A whiteboard, a... tv screen, I think...? The windows were covered in barbed wires...

I went to the door of the room, and turned the knob. It opened. A bit surprising... I would've expected us to be held in here, but those things did say we needed to look around.

"Come on, Kiibo, we should get moving."

"Ah- right," He nodded, following me out of the room.

We walked into the hall, and immediately, confusion came to us. It was a huge hallway, and there was long grass in and on the floor. It felt like it was just dirt under there, so the grass was just growing in here... there were flowers growing in places, and vines on the walls and ceiling.

"You know, now I'm wondering if they were telling the truth or not... This place looks like a jungle. I'm surprised there wasn't a lion locked in that room with us."

"They don't even have proper flooring here... it's amazing that room looked as alright as it did. This doesn't seem right..." Kiibo mumbled as he looked around. 

"I guess we should just keep moving... They don't expect us to come out and mow the grass, or anything, so we should just leave it be for now."

We kept going, exploring the hall. We came across a door with a lot of heart and wing decals all over it. I tried to open the door, but it was locked.

"It's locked... I wonder what this room even is."

And our question was about to be answered.

"Rise and shine ursine!" Those voices rang out again. All 5 of the Monokubs popped up around the door.

"Rise and shine ursine!" Monotaro sang out happily. 

"Ah-!" I backed up in surprise seeing them pop up right in front of me. I would've fell, but Kiibo managed to catch me, and get me back to my feet.

"Whaddya think this place is?" Monotaro looked at the other cubs curiously.

"Check out all this fancy-shmancy writing! Looks like a place for eggheads!" Monokid cackled.

"Huh?" The pink one tilted its head. "Isn't this an **Ultimate Research Lab**?"

"What the hell Monophanie?! Why would you tell them? We were tryin' to make it all dramatic!" The gold one yelled at the pink one.

"Oh, I see... I'm sorry," Monophanie seemed upset by that.

"Um... what's an **Ultimate Research Lab**?" I just had to ask...

"We want you guys to keep honing your **Ultimate** talents, so we set up these rooms for you," Monotaro beamed at me. "This is the **Ultimate Caretaker** 's lab, but we set up labs for the other Ultimates too, of course."

"Ultimate Caretaker..?"

"Most of the labs are still hidden though!" Monokid nodded its head. 

"By the way, the reason this research lab is still locked is..." Monotaro seemed nervous.

I only narrowed my eyes, seeming to notice its nervousness. 

"Cuz we're still setting up everything..." Monophanie hung its head, speaking up faster than the others would for Monotaro. "Sorry, we'll hustle and get it all ready..."

"Just wipe your asses and wait!" Monokid stomped its foot a few times.

"That's good advice and all, but..." The gold one looked to the side. "Don't you mean to say, 'hold your horses?'"

"Puhuhu... Monokid is such a dummy," Monophanie rolled its head, putting its paws up over its muzzle, trying to mask its snickering.

"What are you laughin' at?!" Monokid shouted at it. "I'll bully you like I bully Monodam!"

The green one stayed silent. I suppose that's Monodam then? Almost feel bad for the poor thing.

Before anything else could happen, they disappeared. "So long, bear well!"

"...So this is the Ultimate Caretaker's Research Lab..." May as well continue the original topic, yeah?

"Are there really others rooms for _all_ of us?" Kiibo looked to me. "I wanna know how they managed that... and I can only imagine what mine is going to be like... but yours will most likely come as a surprise because you don't even know your talent."

"Yeah... you're right about one thing... I won't know which room to go to, and I won't know what to expect when I get in there... I'm kinda scared, not gonna lie."

"I'm sure it's nothing bad..." Kiibo patted my back, trying to be comforting, since it was obvious I was afraid. "Ah... you're shaking."

"A-am I?" I held my hands up, and noticed them trembling. I patted my shirt, and cleared my throat, trying to calm myself down. "Uh, sorry about that. Force of habit..?"

"It's alright to be nervous, just... try to relax, okay? We need to get moving."

"Right!" I nodded my head, trying to be optimistic again.

So there's an Ultimate Caretaker here with us as well... That's good to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 12/18/19: Did some editing to this chapter as well. Changed some of Kokichi and Kiibo's dialogue, added a few actions here and there, fixed paragraphing and spacing on several places.


	5. Chapter 5

"So there's a caretaker here... should we search for them first?"

"Maybe... we don't know where to find them though..."

I looked around the hallway.

"There are other doors, most likely for other labs based on their writing, but some are blank... classrooms maybe?"

"I suppose it would make sense to search those... Some of the others may have woken up just like we did. Even if there isn't anyone, it's good enough just to search. We may not find people, but we may find something else that's useful."

"Right." We nodded to eachother. May as well check the blank doors first, right?

We walked to check the doors, and found several of them locked.

"That's weird..." I tilted my head, leaning against the door and trying to peek through the glass in the center.

"Maybe the people in these classrooms haven't woken up yet..?" Kiibo tapped his index fingers together. "And that's why the doors are locked?"

"If there are people in there, I suppose it would make sense... I guess we'll just have to look somewhere else."

Great start to this journey. Well, we may as well go then... this place must be pretty big, if it has to include things like the Ultimate labs. The others can't be just in the classrooms...

Kiibo and I walked down the hall, trying some of the doors as we went. Still no budge; really unfortunate.

Luckily, we were able to find a few more people that weren't in the classrooms.

A boy and girl, near a dragon statue. The boy seemed to be messing with and poking around the statue, while the girl watched, curious.

Oh, yay, more social interactions. I've never been good with these.

"Um..!"

The girl seemed to jump, hearing my voice just behind her. She spun around, with a confused expression.

"Oh! There are others!" Her expression soon turned to one of excitement, as a smile broke on her face. "I told you there were other people, but you didn't believe me!"

The boy seemed to ignore her, much more focused on what he was doing.

"Ugh... I-ignore him, he's really stubborn. He's focused on this... statue thing." She motioned to the dragon statue.

"Well, it's a strange thing to have here, so it makes sense he'd be looking for something here..." I smiled, putting my hands behind my back. "You never know if you're gonna find something important. In a random dragon statue in the middle of an academy hallway."

"Right..." She sighed, tapping her side. "Well, we should at least introduce ourselves, right?"

"Right!" I nodded. "I'm Kokichi Ouma."

"Kiibo Idabashi, Ultimate Hacker," Kiibo smiled up at the girl.

"I'll do my best to remember those. Got em locked up in my memory bank!" She smiled, putting her hands together in front of her chest. "I'm **Kaede Akamatsu** , **Ultimate Caretaker**! It's really nice to meet both of you."

"Ah!" So she's the caretaker? "You're the Ultimate Caretaker?"

"Y-yeah. It's... pretty boring of a talent, when you think about it..." Kaede twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "Not much a caretaker can really do, you just... gotta really be on top of things for the people you're assigned too. It's a boring talent, really."

"Are you kidding?" Kiibo actually seemed really excited hearing her talk. "It's a good talent! You have to care for so many people, and so many _types_ of people; how do you do things like that?! It's gotta be impossible to know everyone's wants and needs all in the same place!"

"When you get used to it, the difficulty is just an extra challenge..." Kaede waved one hand in front of her. "When you get used to it, you're on hard difficulty all the time... and when you've done it for a while, it feels like the normal."

"Of course..." I managed to chuckle. "But... I got something to ask before we continue... Uhh... Did you interact with those... 'bear' things?"

"The Monokubs?" Kaede tilted her head. "They showed up shortly after Shuichi and I woke up... It was _really_ weird."

"It was weird for us too, don't worry. But they were just kinda annoying over anything. Um... did they explain to you what an **Ultimate Research Lab** is?"

"I..." Kaede put her hand under her chin, her thumb and index finger gripping it. "I don't... think I remember that?"

"Ah... well, we could show you if you'd like---"

Just then, a click was heard on the dragon statue, followed by the sounds of doors opening, and a space in the wall pulling open. 

The statue phased into the ground, as the boy hopped off, the top of the floor closing off once the tips of the wings had went down.

"I told you there was something off about this, and did you listen to me?" He flicked Kaede's forehead with a smirk. "Of course not."

"Gh-! O-oh shut up," A pout came on her face as she rubbed her forehead.

"Haha," His smirked turned to a smile, but it dropped after a moment.

"I suppose I should introduce myself then..." He shrugged, folding his hands behind his back. " **Shuichi Saihara** , **Ultimate Interrogator**. I guess it's... nice to meet you, though I wish it were in a better scenario this interaction could be possible."

"I can agree with that..."

"You're an... interrogator?" Kiibo actually... seemed a bit nervous. It only makes sense with his talent, I guess... that's kind of illegal...

"Don't worry about it for now," Shuichi waved his hand, and smiled at Kiibo. "I can't exactly do anything here, so, there's no reason to be afraid, Kiibo."

"Ah..." Kiibo seemed to relax, but it was still obvious he was nervous. "Good to know you were listening to know my name..."

"I can be focused on multiple things at once, just one of my many talents, I suppose."

"Oh boy, we've got a bragger," I rolled my eyes. "Amazing."

"Har har," Shuichi rolled his eyes.

Heh... it's a good thing we found the caretaker at least. We're aware of two other people in the building now. That makes 4 of us...

I wonder where the rest could be?


	6. Chapter 6

"Now then..." Shuichi cracked his knuckles and looked at the opened area in the wall. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm going to do a bit of exploring. Later."

He didn't wait for us to respond, just waved, before he walked out into the darkness of the hall.

It was a bit weird really... he wasn't even afraid to go in, even though it seemed like that'd be a dangerous place...

"Well... I may as well follow you two then?" Kaede smiled at us. "You said you wanted to show me that... lab thing anyways, right?"

"Y-yeah! We were... gonna continue exploring, so we may as well see if we can find some more people while we're heading back to the lab... some of those classrooms might've opened up with Shuichi's help."

"I did hear the sound of doors opening," Kiibo chimed in. "So perhaps those classrooms that were locked before did open!"

"There's probably people in there, so we may as well go take a look! No harm in doing a bit of exploring, right?" Kaede was pretty quick to start walking off, wanting to explore on her own.

Kiibo and I glanced at eachother, and back at the dark hallway that had opened up, before we followed after Kaede. 

We walked back to the classrooms, and sure enough, the doors we tried to open before were opened now, including the door to the classroom that Kiibo and I had woken up in.

"Guess you were right about the doors being opened..." Even ours... there was some sort of complex mechanism connected to these doors through that dragon... I wish I could investigate that kind of thing myself.

"We should look around for a bit then!" Kaede somehow kept her smile. "Even if there aren't people, it wouldn't hurt to see if we could find anything out about this place."

"Yeah, that's something we should focus on is figuring out what this place is even meant to be..." Kiibo nodded to Kaede. "Finding and meeting people is just a bonus at this point."

"Yeah. We have other things we need to focus on... but at least we know there are other people here in the first place. Seeing them just isn't a priority we need to worry about at the moment. Unless someone here knows something..."

"Once we get a good eye for this place, then we can start asking questions..."

"We might even find some answers ourselves if we're lucky!" Kaede laughed as she walked into one of the classrooms. "So let's see just what we can find in here!"


	7. Chapter 7

Before we could stop her, Kaede had already vanished into the first room.

"Ah- guess it's just us then..." Kiibo looked over to me. "Should we both explore together then?"

"Well... there are a few rooms here..." I glanced down the hall, trying to count each room. "We might be able to get more done if we explore each of the rooms by ourselves... we can come back out and talk about what we've found once we're finished."

"Smart... alright. I'll check one of the rooms at the end of the hallway to start. You'll start with one here?"

"That sounds good to me. We'll meet back here when we're finished."

"Alright. Be safe, Kokichi..." Kiibo waved to me, before walking down to the end of the hall, hands behind his back.

I sighed deeply, looking at the doors still in front of me. Each of them were unlocked, and partially cracked open. They all opened up when that mechanism went off... surely if people were inside, that would've alerted them to come out. So why did they seem untouched..?

There may not be people in here after all, but I'm going to look anyways. There may be other things in these rooms that we'd totally miss if we ignored them.

I took a deep breath, heading into the second room. 

It was just like the one I woke up in. The lockers in the corner weren't open, and there was a wardrobe in the opposite corner of the room, farthest from the door. That wasn't there before... maybe it was just in my classroom that it was missing... it may be in other rooms and I haven't seen it yet.

I'll just have to wait on what the others find...

I sigh, wandering the room, checking inside the desks, opening up the lockers...

On the surface, this room doesn't seem to house much, other than noise...

...Wait, noise?

Ah! The wardrobe was making noise, like the locker had when I first woke up, and met Kiibo... It sounded like there were two people inside, a small girl... and an older one. The smaller seemed to be... crying...? And the older was trying to comfort her.

I... I don't know if I should approach them. It seems like the situation is bad enough...

I want to turn and walk out of the room, to wait for Kiibo and Kaede... but something compels me to stick around, and approach the wardrobe. I had intentionally avoided it, but now I was so curious about it suddenly. Even I don't know why.

I let a soft sigh escape me, and I gently tap my hand on the door of the wardrobe, just hard enough to make noise. The voices in the wardrobe stop, and I can't help feeling a bit scared. I'm sure they were more scared than I was. I wasn't sure how long they'd been there, or at least been there _awake_. Maybe I _should_ go.

I take a few steps back, almost running into a desk by mistake. I turn to leave...

But. That's not going to happen at the moment. Because, before I know it, the doors of the wardrobe have been thrown open, and a hand is gripped deadly tight onto my scarf and shirt, forcing me back against the desk, back pressed against the hard, cold surface, and by instinct I feel my hands raise, spread out on either side of my head; my eyes shrink, pupils sliding upwards to look up at the person holding me down, straight in the eyes. 

An older girl, with pale green hair, covering one of her eyes, tied into a shoulder length ponytail at the back. She has pale skin, and an outfit that looks strangely similar to... a maid dress..?

"Who are you?" Her cold voice snaps me out of my thoughts, and my eyes refuse to leave hers. "Speak your name and profession immediately." My hands are frozen, my whole body is stiff with fear. I swallow hard, before managing to speak up.

"M-my name is Kokichi Ouma. Um... i-if you want my talent, I-i don't remember it... I-i'm sorry..!" It's quite easy to tell now, not just because of the stutters, that I'm afraid.

She stares at me, as if trying to debate whether or not I'm telling the truth. Her hand stays firm, refusing to move, to let go of me. I hear the crying again, except a little louder now. It's no longer muffled from the doors of the wardrobe now. The girl's eyes temporarily soften, and her head snaps back around to look at the wardrobe. She lets go of me, and walks back to it, giving me a chance to scoot back on the desk, and sit up on top of it. May be best not to move from here for now... I cross one of my legs over my knee, and my hands clasp together in my lap, looking to the wardrobe.

Sure enough, as I thought before, there was a smaller girl in there. Red hair, a dark, dull green and black meshed outfit, consisting of a hooded jacket, a small, flowy skirt, and a large witch-style hat mostly covering her short, straight cut red hair. She was curled up against the back wall, tightly clutching a pink, fuzzy bear plushie. Her pale face was mostly covered against its fur, except for one of her eyes. They were red, clearly sore from crying. She must've been crying for a little while... The older was trying her best to comfort her.

"Hey, calm down, it's okay..." She spoke as softly as she could, gently rubbing the girl's arm. "Calm down... I told you, I'll make sure nothing happens... It's okay, I'll protect you. Deep breaths..."

It really does upset me a little seeing this go down... I want to do something, but what..?

That's when it hits me, and I hear myself speaking before the thoughts really come into play. "Hey, ma'am... m-may I try something?"

My feet hit the floor as I stand, waiting for an answer from her. The woman glares back at me, just _daring_ me to step forward. I refuse to move, without her O.K.. A few seconds pass, before she looks back to the girl, and stands up, taking just a step backwards. She doesn't look at me, and instead keeps her eyes trained on the girl, but somehow that seems like silent permission to me. 

I pause, having to actually think of what to do before I walk forward, stepping into the wardrobe, sitting down beside the girl. She scoots away from me, her side hitting the wall. It isnt very much, but just a little. She isn't making noise anymore, but tears are still rolling down her face. Unsteadily, I lift my hand, gently brushing it over her cheek to wipe a few of her tears. From my touch, she tenses up, eyes widened just the slightest. The older girl's hands clench up, and I quickly redraw my own, playing with them in my lap.

"Uhm... maybe a joke will help you feel better?" I try to keep my voice soft, soft like the other girl's had been earlier, just to ensure I didn't scare this one. "Would you like to hear one?"

She remains silent, stiff, still... but after a few seconds, she turns her head out of the bear plushie, and looks at me, a slight, curious glint in her eyes, going over her pupils. It's easy looking at them then to see she's still upset, scared... but that glint is enough for me to tell she's interested.

"Hmm..." It takes me a moment to think up a joke, but it comes along with a smile. "What do you call... a three humped camel?"

She glances away, as if trying to think of an answer herself. She seemed to be thinking a bit too hard on it... and eventually looked back at me with one eyebrow raised.

"...Pregnant."

The older girl let out the smallest snicker, which was quickly covered up by a hand and a look to the door of the classroom. I felt happy knowing I could make her laugh, and looked back to the smaller girl. She seemed confused, like she didn't understand it... but soon, her eyes lit up. It took her a moment to understand, but she got it in the end. She let out the lightest of giggles, slightly muffled against the bear plush. My smile soon turned to a grin.

"You liked that one? What'd you rate it? I think it was pretty _great_ myself," Saying that, I formed my hands into O shapes, and put one on top of the other, making it look like an 8.

She noticed, once again taking a second to understand, before she giggled again, clutching her plush just a bit tighter. Her tears seemed to have stopped rolling... that really made me happy. I scooted over to her just a little, using my scarf to wipe the last few tear trails off her face. I couldn't fix the stains since they were already there long before... but I fixed it leaving any more.

The older girl wouldn't show it, but she seemed pleased with the exchange. I was just glad this girl had stopped crying now... and I wasn't back down on a table fearing for my life anymore.


	8. Chapter 8

"Do you feel better now?" I just have to make sure this girl is okay before I do anything else...

She still keeps that look of fear in her eyes, but the soft smile on her face tries to cover it up. She nods, wiping her eyes with one of her jacket sleeves.

"That's good!" I patted her head, my own smile widening. "So... if you're feeling better and comfortable... would it be rude of me to ask for your name now?" I pushed myself up to my feet, and offered my hand to her. She stared at me for a moment, before taking a tight hold of my hand, allowing me to help her up off the ground, and out of the wardrobe.

She let go of my hand, wrapping it back tightly around the plush, before she spoke to me. "Y-yeah.. um... I'm H-Himiko Yumeno, the Ultimate Plushie Maker..."

"Aww," I covered my mouth, trying to hide the smile now. "That's such a cute talent! I love your name too. Himi, Himikooo... would you mind if I called you Himi? It's so cute!"

"Prefer if you didn't..." Even with saying that, Himiko laughed.

"Sorry sorry, I guess I won't be doing that!" I shrugged, and crossed my arms over my chest. I glanced over at the other girl, letting a more neutral expression come to my face. "And... what about that one?"

"H-her?" Himiko glanced to the other girl, who was fiddling with her gloves.

She twirled her ponytail around her hand before looking at me. "Kirumi Tojo. I'm the Ultimate Bodyguard."

"A-ah, that explains a lot..." I chuckled nervously, clapping my hands together before folding my arms behind my back, elbows going into my palms. "You were probably trying to protect Himiko earlier, and that's why you, uh, lashed out at me once you came out... only makes sense since I'm a total stranger, but you could've been a _little_ bit nicer!"

Kirumi only rolled her eyes at that. "Haha, well, I did what I had to do. But... knowing who you are now, Kokichi, I'd like to apologize for that moment. I am just... on edge at the moment, and it's my duty to guard others... Himiko was crying when I woke up, so I made it a silent promise to comfort and protect her. And if that meant accidentally lashing out on a person that came into this room, then... well, you're lucky I have none of my usual tools on me. It could've gotten ugly quickly."

"Yeah, I guess I really am lucky! Now that would've been _super_ yikes," Despite how cheerful my voice sounded, inside... I was more than terrified. So, if it had been any other scenario, I could be dead or _dying_ right now? Now _THAT_ is yikes. "I wouldn't worry about it now though; Iiiiii've got a more important question! Do either of you wanna leave the room now? I've got a couple of friends outside that are probably waiting for me to come back if they haven't already explored the other rooms in this hall. We split up to do investigating and I ended up in here soooo lucky guess for me! Yay, free points!"

Luckily, from my little comments, Himiko was laughing. Haha, I think she likes me! How sweet...

"And I can assure that you'd like those two. They're not _super_ scary. In fact; one of them has the title of Ultimate Caretaker! If that isn't comforting, I don't know what is!"

"Ultimate Caretaker..." Kirumi brought her hand up under her chin, eyes hovering on the floor like she was thinking. "Well, that is a nice talent, at least. Himiko, would you like to leave? I'm alright with it, but I would like an answer from you."

Himiko looked down to the plush in her arms, her hat shifting on her head, just off-center. Kirumi put her hand on the girl's shoulder, making her jump for a moment, head moving and lifting so their eyes met. She shoved the hat back into place on her head, and smiled up at Kirumi.

"Yeah, I'm okay with it," she finally answered. "Um, lead the way Kokichi..."

"Well, I was going to do that anyways, so you don't have to tell me twice!" I spun on my heels, and skipped for the door, only pausing once I was back out in the hallway. I stepped away from the door, and watched Himiko and Kirumi exit together.

Just as Himiko steps out into the hallway, another door down the corridor opens, and Kaede steps out. She looks over to us, and puts her hands together, hanging over her skirt..

"Ah! Kokichi! You found more people?" She walked to stand next to me, eyes on Kirumi and Himiko, wide with curiosity..

"Yeah! They were in the wardrobe in this room," I knocked on the doorframe, looking up at Kaede, then back at the two girls. "I helped em get out, and we talked about some stuff, and now we're out here! We hoped we'd get to talk to both of you when you came out, but it seems Kiibs is still in one of the rooms. We gotta be patient for him, I guess..." I intentionally left out the part where Kirumi threatened me. For my image, yknow.

"Well, it's very nice to meet both of you," Kaede smiled, dipping her head to the two. "My name is Kaede Akamatsu. I'm the Ultimate Caretaker."

"Ah, you are the caretaker?" Kirumi tilted her head. "Kokichi mentioned you to us in the room. It is more comforting putting a talent to a face now."

"Aw..!" Kaede looked to me with a softer smile. My eyes met hers in a side glance momentarily, before I turned my head, so even my eyes couldn't look at her now. I tried to hide the pink on my cheeks the best I could. "I'm glad he talked about me... I really would hope it's comforting knowing what my talent is, but it's even better now that you know what I look like! I'm even friendlier than I seem, haha!"

"Indeed..." A delicate smile played across Kirumi's thin lips, and her eyes fluttered shut, a hand raising over her chest. "My name is Kirumi Tojo, Ultimate Bodyguard. And this is Himiko Yumeno."

"I'm the Ultimate Plushie Maker," Himiko spoke up, trying to be confident. She held up the bear plush, waving one of its arms like it was saying hello too.

"Oh! What a cute talent!" Kaede clapped her hands. "Did you make that plush?"

"Yep yep! All hand made... I've never made a plush with a sowing machine before..."

"It's very impressive that you do that by hand, Himiko... well, you are an Ultimate, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. But still, that's amazing!"

Himiko's smile could only grow at this point. She seemed so proud of herself, and her confidence was only being boosted the more she was complimented. Of course, that paused as another door opened, and fear struck her again, making her shuffle close to Kirumi as she looked back at the doors.

Down the corridor, the door creaking stopped, and Kiibo stepped outside.

"Kiibo!" I hopped in place and waved my arm. "C'mere! We got some new people joining uuuus!~"

Kiibo seemed surprised hearing my voice that soon, but he was quick to approach us. "Ah- new people?"

"Yes, hello," Kirumi smiled and waved. "Kirumi Tojo, if you will. Ultimate Bodyguard."

"I'm Himiko Yumeno!" Himiko tossed the plushie in her arms up into the air, catching it again, only upside down. She positioned it correctly in her arms again before continuing. "Ultimate Plushie Maker, if ya couldn't tell..."

"It's nice meeting both of you," Kiibo smiled to the both of them. He bowed, one arm over his stomach, and the other behind his back. "Kiibo Idabashi. I-i'm the Ultimate Hacker... try not to talk about it too much please..."

"Honestly, I think they could've just guessed your talent with an outfit like that," I couldn't help snickering at my own comment. I even heard Kaede chuckle next to me.

Kiibo quickly sprang back up into an upright position. "M-my outfit has nothing to do with my talent!"

"Yes, and I'm the Prime Minister of Japan," Kaede facepalmed herself, but still kept that grin on her face. 

"Dummy," I stuck my tongue out at him, trying my best not to giggle.

"Ugh..!" Kiibo was already annoyed with us. Now he's gotta deal with us longer than he'd asked for. "I'm going to continue searching."

"Nooo don't leave!" Himiko clung to Kiibo's arm with one hand, and the other clutched her plush tighter. "W-we gotta stay together, we got places to be searchin! Don't you go off on your own, Mr. Hacker Man!"

"...Fine..." Kiibo sighed, letting his smile come back as he gently got Himiko's hand off him. "I'll stick around at least for now..."

"Yay!" I clapped my hands with a giggle. "We should get going then. This academy isn't going to explore itself, you guys!"


End file.
